hi board friends -

as some of you know (because u helped me) I have a 2004 996 coupe on order at 2% over invoice. I only got a few options, because could not afford more (I got 18", Xenons, BOSE).

my dealer just called today and told me he thought I should cancel my order. he said that the dealership just bought a car that is coming in on Monday - and that they got a great deal for it becauase it is a dealer demo. The car has never been registered.

It is 2003 Arctic Silver Coupe w/ black leather sport seats:
BOSE
PSM
Flared Rocker Panels
18 Turbo wheels
PSE
Heated seats
5500 miles

The dealer said he would be willing to take $60k plus TTL for this car. This seems like the deal of the century to me, but I am nervous.... are these "dealer cars" ragged out really hard or something? He says there is nothing wrong with the car, but it seems like a steal, and my experience with Porsche dealers is that they do not give away cars....

Should I jump on this and cancel my 04 order, or is this too good to be true (something fishy going on)

If you were me, what would you do to make CERTAIN that the car is in perfect condition?....

Thanks!!

 

Take the '03 for $60K or even slightly lower if possible. Let someone else take the initial depreciation. With the 997 coming out, your newly ordered '04 will take a bath in depreciation. You still have probably 3 years of warranty left on the '03 so if anything goes wrong you're covered.

 

should I take this 03 to an independent Porsche mechanic to check the car out ? how much would it cost for something like that - $300?

 

I would think if you re 2% over invoice you'd be pretty close to that $60K. 996's have a very high markup...

Maybe it's just not worth it to the dealer to go to the trouble of the 04 at that phenomnel 2% over invoice deal.

Ryan

 

Go for the '03. You said that it had never been registered. Therefore, you will still have the full 4 years of warranty. In addition, it has both PSE and PSM, two options that your '04 does not. My personal thoughts are that PSM is a "must have" option and it is one that you can't add after market. You can always add the PSE, but it is still a $2,400 option on the sticker.

 

My concern would be how it was driven for those 5,500 miles. When a dealer has a demo, at least where I'm from, Everyone who is interested in buying one will get to test drive that car. Why, I myself test drove one and had no regard to the 4200 rpm issue, as a matter of fact, I redlined it many times, Which is what i'm sure all do. I am not saying that this could hurt the engine, But it would be a concern to me. Just something to think about, and consider it is only my opinion. Whichever one you get you will be pleased. Good Luck

 

rerun9999 -

at 2 % over invoice, my 04 is still about $65k ($75k sticker) with only the basic options (xenon, bose, 18s)...

this 03 car had a sticker of $82k+ and has many more options at $60k.

My only concern is being sure that there is not something hidden wrong with car (engine not broken in properly, tranny or clutch problems, etc.)... the deal, I think, is spectacular for the equipment I would be getting.

 

let's say that everyone jumped in this dealer car and test drove the hell out of it.... could that really damage the car or engine in a major way?....

 

have them do a computer diagnostic on the car and provide you with the results. I remember seeing on one of the boards a report that will show you how many times the car has been pushed over the red-line. It's all in the car's computer and can be downloaded by the service department techs. I would also ask for a complete service history.

The other way to look at it is that the car has 5,500 miles and if there were going to be any major problems, they probably would have surfaced by now.

 

It would bother me...Porsche has a break-in Procedure

 

jtrichel,

I went throught a very similar decision making process. I originally was looking for low mileage 03 but was presented with the opportunity for 04 for a little more money. The 04 was less well optioned compared with the 03 w/ about 3000 miles. I also had questionable history of the 03...

Most options can be added after (except for a few which are hard, such as xenons (?impossible to add)which you have, heated seats...)

If you are offered invoice for the 04 you are taking much less depreciation hit compared to someone who paid closer to MSRP. I think your 'hit' won't be as bad as you think. In fact, I'll bet the depreciation of the 03 in the coming year will be similar to the hit of the 04 given that you're buying at invoice. Don't forget all those options don't translate to anything when you go to resell.

Also as others have pointed out the 5000 miles are likely hard driven miles.

For me, I think I'll be able to mod my car over the next few years. The actual price differential (do not compare MSRPs) was not great enough in my case for passing up new.

Just my $0.02.

Either way, you're getting a great car!

Ryan

 

here is my plan (what do you think?)

Agree to purchase the car under the following conditions:

1) Computer diagnostic with report to me on car rev history
2) Complete service history presented to me
3) Allow me the opportunity (at my cost) to have the car independently inspected by another Porsche dealership service dept.
4) Give me back the warranty for the 5,000 miles and 1/yr since the car has never been registered to anyone.

If all these conditions are met, and the car comes out sqeaky clean, I think this is still a better option than the new 04 at 2% over invoice with half the options.

After some research, it appears they bench test these engines in Germany under redline anyways (?).... dealer insists that break-in theories vary and that there is nothing wrong with just driving the car when you buy it new....

 

That sounds like a DE or a Press Demo car, I've never seen a dealer demo with such high milage? Stick by your original plan.

 

what is a "DE or Press Demo" car?

 

If this car is a demo, why is your dealer buying it from another dealer? DE driver event, Press demo I think is for Journalist's to drive and write about their impressions? Rerun makes a great point about options being worthless, or very near it, when it comes time to sell, Buy the 04, You won't regret it.